Champ Debevec fears 3P may be out of Olympics
NEWDELHI: Rajmond Debevec took his glasses off, wiped his eyes before returning to action in the 50m rifle 3 positions qualification. He had finished shooting from kneeling and prone positions and was now preparing to shoot from the standing position. It is the most difficult part for the 55-yearold, who was already 90 minutes into the competition. His eyes were hurting.
Debevec, however, is game for it as he has been for more than three decades of his illustrious career that boasts of three Olympic medals, including a gold medal in Sydney 2000, and five World Championships medals. He has been competing since the World Cup series started in Bucharest in Romania in 1986. “It is my 34th season of World Cup. I was there in almost all,” he said with evident pride.
The veteran from Slovenia though failed to make the cut for the finals here by finishing 35th in qualification. He was ready to fight for his opportunity to qualify for Tokyo Olympics in the coming events.
Debevec is back to shooting 3P after 50 m rifle prone was dropped from the Tokyo Olympics by the world shooting body (ISSF). The ISSF also left double trap and 50m pistol events and accommodated 10m air rifle, 10m air pistol and mixed team events for 2020 Games.
When it comes to only prone, the Slovenian is still among the best in the world. He won gold in World Championships in Changwon last year in 300m rifle prone, which is a non-olympic category.
Debevec feared the rifle 3 positions might be completely scrapped from Olympics in future.
“Many people call this (3 positions) King event in shooting. It is the most complex event because you need skills in three different positions. It’s the longest discipline. You have to keep the level of concentration high for a long time. You have to shoot outdoor so you need a lot of knowledge about tactics,” said Debevec.
“I just hope 50m shooting stays in the Olympic programme. I am afraid there will be discussion for Los Angeles 2028 Games about this.”
He felt commercialisation of the Olympics might hasten the event’s exit. “Maybe there is too much commercialisation of the Olympics. You know it’s been hard to get organisers of the Olympic Games recently. We know the US always have private organizers and their goal is actually to make profit. It’s not like Beijing where for example the government was behind, or Pyeongchang (winter Olympics) last year in Korea, where they had the government support.
“For 10m you just need a sports hall. You don’t need to invest money to build a shooting range like 50m or 25m,” said Debevec who competed in his first Olympics in 1984 Los Angeles when he was 21-year-old.
“I participated twice in Olympics in US (84 Los Angeles and 96 Atlanta) and there was more emphasis on commercial part.”
Debevec, who works in Slovenia Army, however, had no intention of retiring from competitive sport. “I have five years in retirement in Army. I am not too old to be a shooter but too old to start a new coaching career. I will keep shooting even when I retire.”